A man from a family of “extreme hoarders” has been jailed for three years after his immobile and vulnerable sister died in “horrific and filthy conditions”.
Philip Burdett, 59, was sentenced for gross negligence manslaughter at Leicester Crown Court.
The judge said he was “utterly out of his depth” when his 61-year-old sister Julie Burdett’s health deteriorated in January 2019 following years of suffering from numerous chronic and complex medical conditions.
Her body was found by paramedics on her bedroom floor in Oakside Crescent, Leicester, covered in her own faeces, urine and vomit.
Described as “friendly, articulate and clever”, Ms Burdett weighed just 4st 10lb at the time of her death.
The trial heard that the family, described as “extreme hoarders”, became increasingly reclusive following the death of Ms Burdett’s mother Grace in 2005.
Leicester Crown Court heard that Ms Burdett had suffered the most extensive pressure sores an expert with more than 40 years of experience in nursing had ever seen.
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The tissue on her back and hip had become completely necrotic, while her wounds were infected with MRSA before deadly sepsis set in.
Despite denying the offence, jurors convicted Burdett after they heard his sister was on the floor for at least two weeks before her death on 15 January and there was a window of days when her life might have been saved.
Ms Burdett’s 93-year-old father, Ralph, was acquitted of manslaughter but convicted of allowing his daughter’s death.
The retired electrician walked free from court on Thursday after he was handed a two-year custodial term, suspended for the same period.
Sentencing the pair on Thursday, Mr Justice Pepperall told them: “The failings of care, in this case, were not only, on the findings of the jury, gross but they were also basic. Julie plainly needed medical attention, or at the very least to be lifted from the floor and placed back onto her bed.
“She needed proper nutrition. She needed proper management of her pain relief… I do not underestimate the heavy burden of caring for an immobile adult in the home.
“There is no shame in needing help but what was grossly negligent in this case was failing to either provide such basic care or seek the help that you needed.”
‘You plainly intended her no harm’
Philip Burdett, who had his own health issues including agoraphobia and a recurrent depressive disorder, became his sister’s carer, and the family had an aversion to hospitals following Grace’s “distressing death”.
As a result of this, Ms Burdett made her brother and father promise they would not let anyone else care for her or that she be admitted to hospital.
However, the judge said it was open to the defendants to seek medical attention and care in the community, despite Ms Burdett’s wishes.
He said: “Misguided though it was, I accept that you convinced yourselves that it was in Julie’s best interests to remain at home and you buried your heads in the sand.
“You plainly intended her no harm but you were in denial.”
He described Philip Burdett as being “utterly out of his depth” in January 2019, telling him: “I accept that you were ill-equipped to deal with your sister’s complex care needs.”
